Illinois underage drinkers now pay more than a fine

Underage drinking convictions result in loss of driver’s license for at least a year

Since New Year’s Day, underage drinkers in Illinois have had a little more to worry about. However, no one in Carbondale has had to weather the harsher penalties that come with an underage drinking conviction yet.

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On Aug. 19 of last year, former Gov. George Ryan signed into law a piece of legislation that stiffens the penalty for drinking before the age of 21. The law states that if an underage person in Illinois is convicted of possessing, accepting or buying alcohol, that person will not only pay a fine, but also suffer a driver’s license suspension for at least one year. Whether those people have been behind the wheel or not, if they’re underage and have been drinking, their license is in jeopardy. The law went into effect Jan. 1, 2003.

So far, no convictions for underage drinking have been handed out in Carbondale this year. Deborah Nelson, assistant city attorney for Carbondale, said that there have been a few cases of underage alcohol consumption in 2003, but that the cases rarely result in convictions. The amount of those cases against first-time offenders is the reason why no one has been convicted yet in Carbondale under the new penalty.

“If it’s your first offense, you will most likely get court supervision,” Nelson said. “Therefore, it’s not reported and the fine is paid through the mail. To my knowledge, there have not been any actual convictions this year.”

Nelson said that people under 21 who drink should realize that they could be caught at places other than bars and the Strip.

“You can be arrested even if you are at a house party or in the dorms,” Nelson said. “It’s not in the places that you’d expect to be careful that get you caught sometimes.”

Carbondale Police Officer Dan Reed said that although the added scare of losing a driver’s license for a year exists in student’s minds, his job as an officer is unchanged by the harsher penalty.

“It doesn’t change anything for us,” Reed said. “It’s not really a new law, they’ve just changed the punishment. As far as enforcement goes, we’ll continue to look for underage consumption like we always have with bar checks and watching for parties. It’s business as usual.”

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Business is not usual for underage college students. The threat of a year-long driver’s license suspension is in the minds of many students at SIUC.

A few of them are questioning the added penalty. Junior Jessica Stone, who had been unaware of the harsher penalty, said she disagrees with the Illinois government’s decision.

“I think it’s a little irrelevant,” Stone said. “If you were caught drinking at a bar with your friends and you weren’t driving that night, your driver’s license should have nothing to do with it.”

“I think the underage drinking penalty was fine the way it was,” freshman Jason Wojdyla said. “Unless you’re out driving after you’ve been drinking, there’s no sense in taking away a person’s driver’s license.”

Some think that the added penalty is warranted. Senior Joe Burtis said he believes that a driver’s license suspension is fair in cases of underage drinking.

“It’s totally fair,” Burtis said. “They have to get home from the bar, right? I think they might be taking a car on the way back. Whether they’ve driven drunk yet or not, they probably will at the end of the night. The police just want to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Still, other students refuse to believe that a minimum one-year driver’s license suspension is fair punishment for being arrested for drinking at a bar or a party, especially when the underage person in question has not been driving.

“If you haven’t been driving, I don’t think that privilege should be taken away,” freshman Melanie Mantel said. “If you have been driving, that’s another story and you deserve to have your license taken away.”

Reporter Burke Wasson can be reached at [email protected].